Fontbonne Tops Red Devils on Senior Day

EUREKA – Fontbonne prevented Eureka from closing its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series with a Senior Day win on Saturday.

The Griffins bested the Red Devils 9-3 to improve to 13-1 in league play, and held EC to three runs on 11 hits along the way. The Red Devils left nine on base in the loss.

Eureka's Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) had a good day at the plate, going 3-for-4 and driving in a run.

Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville) and Lane Marlow (Camp Point, Ill./Camp Point Central) each had a pair of hits. Davis and Hill each contributed a double.

Senior Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington) had a strong last outing of his career at Henry Sand Field, throwing five quality innings of relief in which he only conceded one run on three hits and struck out five batters.

Starting pitcher Ryan Bredeson (Washington, Ill./Washington) had a rougher go of it, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits and one walk while striking out three in four innings.

The Red Devils scored their first run of the day on a sac fly RBI by Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) in the second inning.

Fontbonne scored five in the next two innings. Marlow's RBI double in the fourth made it 8-2. Cox's RBI single in the fifth cut the lead five runs, but the Griffins plated another in the seventh.

Before the game, the Red Devils honored seven seniors who appeared in the last home game of their career: Joe Binder (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone), Dylan Briggs (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods), Diederich, Charles Mangold III (Eureka, Ill./Eureka), Marlow, Jimmy Peterson (Bloomington, Ill./Homeschooled/Monmouth) and David Throw (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove).

Eureka (15-14, 7-7 SLIAC) will next face Illinois Wesleyan (15-11, 6-3) in non-conference action on the road on Wednesday at 6 p.m.